His opéra comique, Le Docteur Miracle, was performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in 1857. After that he wrote constantly for theatres, but produced nothing especially successful until Fleur-de-thé (1868), which ran for more than a hundred nights. Les cent vierges (1872) was also favorably received.

All his previous successes were cast into the shade by La fille de Madame Angot (Brussels, 1872), which in Paris in 1873 was performed for more than 400 nights consecutively, and which has since gained and retained enormous popularity.[1] After 1873, Lecocq produced a large number of operettas, though he never equalled his early triumph in La fille de Madame Angot. Camille Saint-Saëns was a friend of Lecocq's, and never ceased to admire the latter's music. Lecocq died in his home city of Paris, aged 85.